Surgical procedures often require dissection and displacement of tissues so as to allow access to the anatomical structures to be subjected to an intervention. Dissection of tissues is more and more performed without cutting them and in a substantially atraumatic way by way of special dissector devices.
Such dissector devices typically comprise blunt dissecting elements, such as pairs of jaws, spatulas and the like, which are made to slide along the natural cleavage planes of the tissues to be separated so as to exert a detachment action therebetween.
The publication U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,120 A e.g. discloses a dissector device comprising a pair of levers hinged to each other at an intermediate position thereof. At the distal ends of the levers curved beaks are arranged, while at the proximal ends of the levers slotted grips similar to those of a common scissor are provided so as to allow a surgeon to handle the device with the fingers of a hand. By moving the handles close to or away from each other as it happens with scissors, the curved beaks may be brought close to or away from each other, respectively. Detachment and separation of the tissues, i.e. their dissection, is performed by moving the beaks away from each other when they are suitably arranged between the cleavage planes of the tissues.
The publication US 2014/0094838 A1 discloses a dissector device comprising a rod-shaped element at the distal end of which a pair of articulated beaks is arranged. These beaks may be operated through a kinematic chain restrained to a control lever pivoted at the proximal end of the rod-shaped element. Also in this case detachment of the tissues occurs by moving the beaks away from each other. The provision of a rod-shaped element is advantageous, because it allows a surgeon to operate on tissues from a remote position with respect to the site of the intervention, as it typically occurs in laparoscopic procedures.
The publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,382 A discloses a dissector device comprising a rod-shaped element at the distal end of which an expandable balloon is arranged. The expansion of the balloon between the cleavage planes of the tissues causes detachment and separation similarly to what occurs by moving the beaks of the dissectors devices mentioned above away from each other.
The international publication WO 99/02089 A1 discloses a dissector device comprising a rod-shaped element whose distal end comprises apertures configured to deliver a flow of pressurized gas, for example carbon dioxide. In this case tissue dissection is not obtained mechanically by pressing and/or operating expandable members against the tissues, but due to the dynamic action of a fluid medium injected therebetween.
Another dissector device of this type is disclosed in the publication US 2009/0076505 A1. In this case a gas supplied from a distal end of a rod-shaped element is ionized by way of an active electrode, thus allowing to cause not only detachment and separation of the tissues, but also to obtain a drying and coagulation effect.
The publication DE 10 2006 027 873 A1 discloses a dissector device comprising a rod-shaped element, an expandable element consisting of a pair of beaks or jaws arranged at a distal end of the rod-shaped element, wherein the jaws are hinged to each other and restrained at the distal end of the rod-shaped element by a pin and are operatively connected to a control rod that is slidably fitter in the rod-shaped element. The dissector device further comprises a dispensing assembly for dispensing a pressurized fluid, in particular a saline solution, comprising a feeding channel a dispensing aperture of which is arranged close to a fixed jaw of the expandable element.
A structurally similar device is disclosed in the publication DE 10 2011 086 032 A1.